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New Mexico

As the newly-elected and reelected governors of Nebraska, Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming set their term agendas, now is the time to let them know how important affordable electricity is to our way of life in the West.

Keep Electricity Affordable periodically highlights unwise potential government mandates that could raise the price of electricity – and how rate hikes could hurt families, schools, farms and other small businesses.

But it’s worth remembering that – as our name makes clear – electricity remains relatively affordable considering all it does to enhance our lives. (So let’s keep working together to make sure it stays that way!)

Nobody likes an increase in the electricity bill but this graphic provides some perspective:

You may be familiar with the drill: First, government regulators announce new mandates on power production. Then proponents and critics of the new rules debate the potential impact on how much consumers pay for electricity – often coming to very different conclusions.

It may be hard to decide who to believe.

But there’s much less room for debate when we can see the impacts on electricity bills that consumers are receiving today.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration reports that residential electricity costs in New Mexico have been on the rise over the last several years. Those increasing costs disproportionately impact the most vulnerable New Mexicans, as electricity costs crowd out other basic needs like food and medicine in the family budget.

On Thursday, March 6, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Electricity Security and Affordability Act by a bipartisan vote of 229 to 183. The bill, HR 3826, would require the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to set a more reasonable path forward for regulative power plant emissions.